The Sun. — London, England, 1808-11-21 00:00:00

• . s , bn . •, silent haitrig been thrown chirinethaftirie. :40t a man of the garrison was killed, but six Swedish prisoners were killed by a shell, Which fell upon the pi isOn, and a woman also lost•her lite, at she was tarrying some food . to her husband, who was on duty. T4ie Commandant Kont. was wounded in the leg by a spent-shot, at the commencement of the. action; but made himself be 'carried about on a 661)6 to encourage his men, until the•contlusion of the anion. Besides the CoMmandaiii, there are only nine wounded ; but, on the other hand, the buildings in the fort, and the Ships in the harbour, have suffered considerably. None, however, of the, latter were sunk. The whole of- the Officers and garrison displayed the highest gallantry and intrepidity Upon this occasion. The gunner LID'E particularly distinguished himself; though wounded, he Con tinued at his post. The object of the enemy seems to have been to burn the town and -the prizes lying in the harbour, several of which have been damaged in their decks and masts. This intelligence has been brought by the Privateer Mandahl, Capt. WULFFSON. Some Danish pepiOners'arrived from Gotteaburgh, bring adVice that the RUssians, upon rapture of the armistice is Finland, made a general attack on the Swedish army, which Was completely rotiii7z.', after a bloody engagement, in whiCh they had 6000 , ;nen killed or wounded,. TO CORRESPONDENTS. • The Letter of AIL sr n son, the subjed of the Portu gal Conventisni, though liberal in its views, tends to a prejudicatic i n of matters that are now in a proper train for discussiou, and therefore we must decline it. We shall To-morrow resume the valuable Article on Bye - NA R T E'S Campaign in Italy.—The subjed will be the seizure of the Property of the Church, and the robbery of the Mounts of Piety. MAILS. AP:a:VI:I3—Z Dublin. .11uit—'z Gottenburgh, i Malt , 4 Waterford, PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT TWELVI O'CLOCk. "Consols - - - - 66 c 4 Red. Ann , . - . 4 6if THE SUN. QOLtM QUIS OICZAZ EALSIJM At:DiAT L 0 N D ..^; 101,,TDAY, NOVEMBER "..! i, 180'8. A Report was very prevalent at Plymouth, imme diately After the arrival of the Black Joke Lugger, from St. Andero, that a very desperate battle had been fought between the armies of Generals NEY and 13LAKE, in which the former was said to have been 'totally defeated, with the loss of goon men, in killed, *rounded, and, prisoners. It was also added, that gen. NEY was wounded. We should feel the most sincere pleasure in being able to confirm this report, but the fail is, that no intelligence of the kind wa s brought by , the Black Joke, nor does it appear that any glion- has taken place since. the attack made by General BLAKE on the French near Val maseda, on the 4th instant. • We yesterday received Spanish Papers to the 16th inst. but they do not contain any accounts of an glaion subsequent to the 4th. iireport had reached Gijon, that Gen. BLAKE bad reoccupied • Bilboa on the Ith, but we beliore it was unfounded. Dutch Papers- to the 16th inst. reached toiVn last right, but they bring Niery little news. The Danes, it appears, are exceedingly indignant at the trade carried on by the Briti3ll in the Baltic, and very stronginsinual.ionsacethrown out in the Copenhagen Paper, that Russia and Prussia are ostensibly rigid, but secretly indulgent, to British Cotrimerce. Yesterday morning, his MAJESTY, Princesses Au 41USTA, SOPHIA., and AMELIA, accompanied by Lady CAROLINE WALDEGRAVE, General FIYZROY, .and Colonel Dessßow, went to St. George's Cha pel, and heard divine service. The Royal Party afterwards returned to the Pa lace. . . Dispatches. Were yesterday morning received at the Admiralty Otfce from Lisbon, of the I Ith inst. They came by the_ Talbot ; which brought home a fleet of Transports from , the Tagus, . . Mr. JOHNSON, the King's Messenger, left the Fo reign Orfice on Saturday night, at 'eleven o'clock, with dispatches for our Ambassador, Mr: Fling; at Madrid. • "Ilia:Spanish Deputies ; of Friday arrived ;t Ports mouth, -to embark for Corunna in the Laviniti fri gate. AdmirarAPODACA only remains. Gen. 'MACK, Prince AUSENBERG, Prince AVERS !ERG, and Col. THEIS, have received a pardon from the Emperor of AUSTRIA, and have been set:at liberty. _ _ he Gaiette of Saturday contained a Proclama tion, continuing the prohibition 'of the ditillation of spirits from corn or grain, for 40 days after the next meeting of Parliament. The Bounty to Seamen, on entering his Majesty's service, is continued by an Order in Council in Sa turday's Gazette, to the 31st December, 1 &09. — This Order is generally renewed every six months. On Saturday the LORD MA Mt received a requisi tiob, signed by a considerable number of the Livery men, to convene a Con -moll Hall, lily the purp ose of .taking into consicleratj,o4 7 lhe 'COnven t ki n ' of Cin tra, and adopting certain resolutions in consequence of the Answer of his Majesty's . Minister to the late Address of the City-of London. The necessary ar rangements caused by the going-out Of the Late, and the coming-in of the present Loan MAYOR, have alone prevented the Meeting' from being sooner held.. The attendance of the Livery on the occasion is ex peaed to be more 'numerous than in any instance for s everal years past. The Common Hall will be held 4 n f a the course o few .days. . On Thursday a large quantity of pike, jacks, and other 'fish, Which nearly filled a cart, were put'into the Canal in St. James's Park, by order of Lord inly E -4, the Park-keeper. NAVAL NEWS. Arrived , the Lord Melville, MuNRo, from Lon don, bbund to Gibraltar; the Commerce, CREWS,' from Poole, for Spain; and Unity , TA NI ',rig ) , from. Newfoundland, with fi,li and oil; for this port. A heavys , ale of,wind-has blown fot thelast two days from the west and - north-weSt, and consider able damage has been done among the shipping, iii - Sfenehouse Pool, where , three vessels have been -driten on shore and mush damaged. One of the Doats that ply at Mtitton Cove was upiet last evening, and the Waterman unfortunately drowned. ' On Thursday night between ten and eleven o'clock a fire was discovered to have taken place in one of the small detached hemv-houses in the Dock-yard, which burnt a short time with considerable fury, but by the prompt exertions Of the Officers of the. Dock-yard, and the people employed therein, it was soon got under without much toss. The cause of the accideut was owing to, the heating. of the hemp. Arrived the Revenge, of 74 gong, from a maize. Sailed flee Rakigh Sloop of War, and Zebra Bonib, on a.crnize. Arrived the Brildpnia Viaualler, froth the Wei ward. Frigate, Capt. WoLro, --which arrived here on Wednesday last, reconnoitered Brest - harbour the 9th instant, and.observed nine Sail of the Line ready for sea {otle a three-decker) besides three Frigates, a Brig, t , vc Schooners, and a cutter. Mr. GP3BONS ' , one of the Master's Mates on. board the Amethyst Frigate, who was wounded in the late aetion with the Thetis Frigate., died last night. PORTIIk,OUTH, Ncv. Ao.—The Talbot, Honcura ble Captain JONRs, arrived yesterday afternoon from Lisbon ; General SPENCER, General ACLAND, aid suites, came home in her. She left Sir C. COTTON in the. Tagus yesterday sa'nnight. Sir HARRY BuR RAI.ID had not left Lisbon. Also arrived the Zebra Bomb from the Westward. Sailed his Majesty's Ship Port Mahon on a cruize; also the Pelter foi - the Downs. Yesterday came into Stokes Bay from Yarmouth Roads, the Bark Richard Clark, ---, bound to Gibraltar, having lost an anchor and cable in a gale of wind the day before. SHEERRESS, Nov. 19.- , --Carne down from Chat ham His Majesty's Ship Euryalus, Hon. Captain buNDAS. Went up to Long Reach to get her gnus and powder out, His Majesty's Ship Vaneard ) Capt. T. BAKER. The Bloodhound,Gun-brig has the signal flying for a'convoy to Gottenburgh. Sailed from the River to North Fleet the Ship Thuncier Bomb, Capt. CAULFIELD. DEAL, Nov. 20.-=-Came• down from Sheerness his Majesty's Shp Aginpoutt : and remains in the Downs with a Fleet of ,Ships of Wai and outward-bound Vessels. Sailed for the River the hczlella, HENDERSON', from Oporto ; and the Ralph Nicholson, FINDLAY, from Lisbon. FALMOUTH, Nov. 18.—Arrived the Ship -New Zealand, Capt;ELDER, from London, for the Bra- Zile; aiso the Transports Lomion,, DOWELL ; and the Zebra, BROWN, from Lisbon. Sailed, the Transports Mary, LANGDON; and the Britannia, DucisEß, from Plymouth. Three large French Frigates made - their escape out of Cherbourg, last Saturday week. They had been Watched for several months by our. Frigates; but it is quite impraaicable effeaually to blockade that, or any other port in the Channel or Bay, during the winter mouths: It is said that one of them is bound to the East Indies; and two to the West Indies. On Wednesday, a boy, about eleven years of age, having in the abSence of his mother, an inhabitant of • Norwich, obtained access to a cask of gunpowder, containing three or four pounds, set fire to it, when the whole blew up with a dreadful explosion, and so severely burned the youth, that his lite is despair ed of. The mother was severely scorched, and the furniture of the room heady shattered to pieces. A girl in the same house, under the impulse of terror, j ! Jumped out of an upper window into the street, and e scaped with several bruizcs. o.—Arr:verl Yesterday the 2 k r ° 72 PC.7o/ (liana COTWili2 . , and 31ticA:79/ef: Lugier frew St. *- andiro, both -charged with:l4ls:: patches. The latter is stated to have brought iutel ligence of a desperate aelion having been fought tie r teen the - Army under General BLAKE, and that of Marshal NEY, in which" thetaiter`has been defeated, and gooo Troops Filled and wounded, together with tbeloss of all his artillery. The Nonpareil is said to have brought accounts nearly corresponding with the above. An Officer of the Artillery came pasionger in her, who states that he travelled fro'in Oporto. to Corunna. by land, and that the villages through which he came were, illuminated on the occasion. It is also rumoured,. that General NET fell in the anion, and that Gene ral BLAKE was Worin.ded, but this wants confirrna ti,Jn.. The two Vessels bad a rapid passage, he" Black Joke in three days, and the Nonpareil in four. 30U_'1 OF NQUIRI. ~~ . . REt- DAY: Chelsea, /*v. lg. As the late hour. at.whitth th4,Court adarned on Saturdaypretentid-us frAirgivitrg the voiffbto of its proceedings, we think it necessary, in justice to our Readers, this day to resume the subjeet. A variety of Documents were read-, -- written HEW DALRYMPLE and General FEEIRE, principally relating to the plunder which the French had em barked. In one of these Letters ? Sir HEW DALRYMPLE expresses his surpri.ze that so large a sum as 40,0001. mentioned in the Protest, should have been carried off, and declares his intention of ordering restitu tion. • . ~,; :; ~ .' Then followed a Proclamation. signed-by General rREIRE, against the Convention. It states, that there could not have been a measure entered into more fa-, vourable to the French . , or more hurtful to t because of Europe ; _that the English , army, was to be considered in no other light than as auxiliary to the Portuguese; that the stipulations there,MOpkained were such as never could be agreed .q.0,.-unless it were that Portugal was a conquered Country. It concludes with protesting strongly against the conditions of the Treaty. Sir Haw, in answer, said, that the General ought to have stated these objections when be had trans mitted the armistice to him before the Convention had been concluded: -He denied, however, that dime was any foundation for • stichobie4ions, E n t as injurious repo rts m i g h t be disseminated by the enemy,, he declared that, the British acted merely:as the 'allies of, the Prince Regent, and strict attention should be paid to the security of the Government.- General FRIERE wrotea letter to Sir HEW of the 'same date (6th September), observing, that he .fret. it his duty to male the observations which he had submitted to Sir HEW, but at thesanie time express ing himself, highly satisfied with the contents of Sir Hewg's letter. A correspondence was next read, between Sir Hro.v and. the Portuguese Officer SOUZA, 1:)11 the snh jeet of pculishiug certain persons who had been ac tive in promoting the views of the French , during the time they were i n possession of' Lisbon, and of restoring the Government. Sir HEW objected to such punishinents, on the ground that; it would be -highly. impolitic to keep aliveatiimosilies, by enter ing into an examination of past offences. The lie gency, he said, would be restored atter the French had evacuated the city.' Some letters. were intro duced here, which passed between___Sir..HEW and 'General Faisae, in which the former expressed his *approbation of the resolution of Fat Erie not to bring the Portuguese troops into Lisbon . till the French were gone, and the latter referred Sir HEW to..the Junta of Oporto, on the subje& Of the Governiiient of Portugal. , 4 A letter from Sir A. WELLESLEY to . ton! T.LEREAGH, written in rotriequence .; of :an - assertion in a dispatch from Sir H. DALRYMPLE,. 2S lt, apt peared in the Gazette, was then- asser tim was, " that the several articles of the suspension of arms were agreed upon and signed by Sir . A..WEL- , LESLEY," The letter statedihat Sir A.lfacr signed the Armistice at the desire of Abe:Commander in Chief ; but, That he did not consider himself as re sponsible for ate whole of its protisioris.,. He cer tainly had concurred in the principle Of.the Conven tion, as under all the circumstances, the - French had a fair claim to terms:- - They had posSession'of the strong holds, with an army nnited, and might. have certainly:held out for a considerable time. The British army, was straitened for supplies,and thediffi catty. would be augmented by the increase of num bers. No arrangements could be made 'for the march of troops into Spain till the French had evacuated 'Portugal, and therefore, the question, ,wfether terms were or were not to be allowed, mar terially affeeled the future operations of the army. Sir HEW DALRYMPLE said, that he believed there were in several instances a. diffaence between the words in his dispatches, as- originally written, and as inserted in the Gazette. In the present instance there appeared to be a matetial transposition of words. He therefore wished the original dispatch and the Gazette to be compared. Upon this com parison it appeared, that instead of "the severalar tides were agreed upon and signed !by Sir A. Wtr.- iesLEY," as inserted in the Gazette, the wordsMf the dispatch were, "the several articles agreed upon (that is - between Sir HEW DALRYMPLE, Sir H. BUR HARD, Sir A. WELLESLEY, and General kELLEa mAtvx), were signed by Sir A. WELLESLEY."': • Sir A. - WELLESLEY then said, that in 'Wilting that letter he never meant to cast the least refleCtionupbn Sir HEW DALRYMPLE. His object had been merely to set Government right, upon' a point, with regard to which they might have been misled by an inaccu racy of expression. An account of the number of troops under the command of Sir_H. D. in Portugal was then read, as also the copy of a letter from Colonel MURRAY ac cepting the conditions of the Armistice, without the stipulation as to the.RusS:an Fleet. Sir HEW DAL RYMPLE stated, that JUNOT. had written a letter to him on the subjea, which seemed to imply that the negociation for the evacuation of Portugal by the French, and that respeaing the Russian Fleet, were to go hand in'hand ; and that if the one failed the other should be at an end: This did not appear in Colonel MURRAY'S letter, and he had written to him to recohcile the two statements. ' But Colonel Mutt- RAY'S answer had, by some mistake or other, been lost. The instruaions to Sir A. 'WELLESLEY and Sir H. DALRYMPLE were then read, and also the copy of a dispatch, with instruaions from the Corn wander in Chief the Duke of York to Sir H. Butt- BARD, together with Sir HARRY'S answer. The reading of the written documents being fi nished, .' Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY rose and observed, that having received instruationS, to attend the Board, he had most cheerfully complied. He had already given in copies of his dispatches, detailing his proceedings during the,time he had the chief command of the army in Portugal. He • was perfe&ly willing to rest his case on these dispatches, and to leave it to the .Court to form its 9pinlan from them.. But as it was the wish of the Court that he should give a - narrative Of his proceedings, he had no objedion s . Fle then; from a paper which he held' in his hand, read a nar rative of his proceedings . from the time th at h e fi rst took the comma n d o f the army. It stated, that Inc bailed in the Donegal from Cork, on the lilt 4 of Ally, and arrived at Corunna on the 20th. r--it ~ landed there ; a n d h a d frequent conferences with the Supreme Junta, of Galicia,eq He was there inf orrn e d 6 command thatth of Generalseart - nyof Castile CtJEsTA and BA aridGalicia, L en E e , r hadthe been defeated at Rio Seco, by the French, u der the command of Marshal BESSIERES. Il e offered the Junta of Galicia the assistance -0"3 6 _ . ... man force 'under his command, but was told by the m ', expressly, that th e y did n o t want men, but owl money, arms, and ammunition. They at the same time expressed the utmo s t anxiety that the Frenc at should be driven from Portugal, and declared that this would be the most valuable service the British. troops could render to the cause of. Spain. They also reco m m e nd e d hi m to go w i t h hi s troo ps to the northOf Portugal, in order to assist,,as much as Pes" sible,. the insurrection which had taken place in the neighbourhood of Oporto. After these conferenc e ", had taken place, he l e ft Corunna on the ~e2d, aria joined the next day hiS fleet off Finisterre. Th e i r , then went to Oporto, where he landed, and bed r'' veral conferences with the Bishop.' The Bisbe_ ;l P ' 3 ' - formed. him that the Portugues e f orc e consibteu -t about 5000 men, regularsand m l- 7°- ilitia, besides a „ 1500 Spaniards, - and: nel'rly as many Portuguese: scattered over the country: . He al;-..0 3 promiEed to thrtAlt Mules for the conveyance of the artillery and ammunition waggons. After having received all r ` . o information he could get at Oporto, he left hisl o " r i r li off that port and sailed on the math, to join .4-" 1-- qie . Sir C. COTTON, and consult with' him about ' es means of entering the Tagus, and attacking t r ae forts ih 'the neighbourhood of Lisbon. Wile"' Genera SPENCER, of Lisbon, he received a letter from Gen e ee SI!ENCER, who waited his - cruets, but it was at r ,' t same Aline' uncertain, Whether in the. situation th a t Andalusia was:(Duro&T not having thou s urrende!' ed) he would not a6t more for the common ous e l remaining in his s it uat i on off Cadiz. - The Junta of Seville; however, did not' conSidet the presence °_ - General SPENCER as a b so lu te l y necessar y for the operations [het) going forward i n Andalusia' ,' os t that was his (Sir A. W the I ELLESLEY'S) opinion that , objeat . was to drive the Fren c h ou t o f P or tugal; neither of . the two corps could d o much g ° . ° , - thing Separately, and that it wa s necessar y that th e / should be united, - He therefore gave ordersito GI SPENCER AO jUill him. Toe first information wh' ° he received of th e s t rengt h o f t h e F renc h i n Pe rtt ; gal was, that th e y amounted to about sixteen e n seventeen thousand m e n,. o f w hi c h a b out fourteen thousand were in Li s b on , an d th e f orts . in the n 4 d bourhood, and that the remainder were dispell i e e in small garrisons in the different strong places• i , had heard that there were about 600 in garri s°3 i' r ts Almeida, .and about an equal number in ,t l ; e „, r e tt ed df Elvasaind Evora. He, however, afterwards l e `'l. l -, 0 . that there were near 24,000. Under tliesd c ir° , l - : n . stances, he conceived that it would be extrernelY ",- , 5 genius to attempt a lauding in any of the small '. 3) 3 , to the : North of the Tagus, where he would be ' n il , mediately exposed to . the at eck from the ", I ! e d body, of the French arrny. c therefore resoiv that the landing should be effe6ted at Mondegeny' 4 where he could speedily c o - o per ate w ith the Pt);tu a desiforce which' had advanced o Coimbra. NV °e ,, A , he was oft' Mondego Bay, he received a letter f ront Lord . C ASTLUREAGH stating that 5000 Hier: we r proceeding to join ,him, under Vero ANSTAUTII O ! and that above General MOORE. "'He also received an account CASTANOA itiaOly over DupeNT, !Ind also of jou . 1 . 0,000 more w . tii - '?„ to arrive und o q ' Lorsosr having been detached with four or five r ' 5 s deran French4o the province o f Alailkthjo, to seP o L.,d e t an insurrection in the, South of Portugal. u ' l 'ioti these circumstances, he thought a disembarl ° oB3 might be safely efteEted at, Mondego 8aYi,„4.31)10 fanding was, howevet, attend e d with consin",,fl difficulties, ,on account of th e sur f . Hi s f o rce "' de ,' ed on the sth and 6th, and General SPENCO lan sr- On the 7th and Btll. As ; soon as the ne cessarY c h rangements were com pl ete d, h e d eterm i ne d to 0 3a ` tht , fotward to LiAtion. 'Having then aseertahl eci o. c force of the enemy, he wrote a lettei to Sir' joil'i)01 BußnAanron the' Bth; recommending a certa in k ot a, of operations f o r th e corps th at h e was to brl-ithe Portugal. ,00.tlie 9th the adVanced guard of th e army marched forward.- Upon that day he r oc n ; left the aceonotoof .JaSEPkL IIIJONAPARTE haunt 3 4. " a c Madrid, and also a Jett er f rom C o l one l DeY'-gar- Coruuna, ofhi . eli: : rnade it appear probable thg t to the. .shal r ,A: - .SSlEitgs syotild:. make an irruptioa i : ° orn e 'North. of Portugal. e it. :was necessary to old ° s hAve important advantages hefore.,BEssirs O ti • a - ~ , • an the time to carry. .CiO j a,p,;;M'antri execution , -G Ge ne" 'army continued. itsomarchi. . The Portwe ese —e rii rats :soon . ..deo - lauded :to , be supplied- with from the British stOrfs ;'; ; viiich d e ''tid it was Ill d . ' I n a - . te ' possible to comply with: tie Portuguese s eP o ar ; a o ish and . ermtinriett urreriralifTeruf a re . ffoin the Pl er y, , till after th,e'2,2d .dirgiigtist.' "" He had that e v- . a . proposal that he ebillit &Ake to induce the co-01 ) , e ' a tion of the PorthattSer,;,' He 'ltad,dem47oed:o' 0 ; rcinjOrtement Of 1060 zi.;j'antry,-,400,,1ight tad and 200 cavalry, and'ihad- *xornised that they ''' d e y d l id receive provisiohs froth, qt,ffe''llfitisil stock : . a . "'" .1 , provisi.ol., the•Portagilese Generali would n©t consent 41 11 1'30 On the lath instant_ .the...gritcsb_ troops d e n by aelion With °nab, rrqrleh troops, commau' i ; at ib....v - LABORDE and Lorsox.. Th e par ti cu ' ars o f I-- es, thin were detailed in the Gazette, and it` was 141-eeiod. sarynow to repeat th em . Before that,aaion,. ll° o t ; -.! thought of attacking the French post upon th e ° D ot. but when he had b een so severely disappointed il to , --, meeting the expe6t e d co - operat i on from the , F , ,°, i f try f : guese, and wh en h e h a d a l so w i tnessed the ga"-oie, which the French di s play e d i n t h e atl i on of the ' o e; he resolved to change his plan, and to march "' w o o), the French p os i t i on o f T orre Vedras. Therifeooh Gen. AisTrtuTosn's force ' app eare d i n the ' he re and effeded their landing. On the same day i t,, in was some skirmishing with 'the enemy's ca va , a :,' in the neigh.)ourhood of Vimiera. It had been ` 3. ,, t he tention on the 21st to march forward and turn French position at Torre Vedras, having an e xee riv ed ,ir de. map of the country; but Sir H. BotittAat ) in the. evening and took the command. 1 ,„ 1- ! e ..o. tails of the battl e o f Vi m i era were ill the ua. o -. . / and with that battle his command of the Briti ° 4' ' in Portugal ceased. , , Sir ARTHUR W ELLESLEY having COnc lUd e d '' c ''' '' a . ; reading of th e n arrat i ve, d e li vered i t to " , 0 the oii;C: dent to be ent ere d on t h e t h i nwes w ith In e i,„-o proceedings of t h e B oar d . Th e C ou rt was tll e° r a d. ~ mediately cleared, and in a few tlinutes 4 1. ~. jourtied till Modc y ( this day). w ere , Among the company p resen t in the Cour t the Duku CAMBRIDGIi and CumBEriLAND-